Things aren’t always black or white.
Swedish artist Sanna Dullaway has taken some of history’s most iconic black-and-white photographs and transformed them into glorious color versions, giving new life to images from yesteryear.
Dullaway, 21, began colorizing images when she started a photo restoration business. It was the famous image of the burning monk in Saigon that first inspired her to colorize historical photos.
“I thought the fire would make the historical context much more expressive if it were in color,” Dullaway told The Daily.
While her Photoshop-colorized renditions are striking, not everyone agrees with what she’s done.
“I personally feel colorizing photos brings history closer to us, and it makes it feel more alive and touchable,” she said.
But as to whether she aesthetically prefers the shades of grey or the colorized versions, Dullaway said, that’s a different story entirely. Swipe to decide for yourself: black and white, or color?
– Elizabeth Semrai
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Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt
A famous photo taken in Times Square as news of victory over Japan broke in August 1945.
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Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt
A famous photo taken in Times Square as news of victory over Japan broke in August 1945.
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Photo: Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress
A farmer's wife and mother of two, one of the most well-known images of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
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Photo: Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress
A farmer's wife and mother of two, one of the most well-known images of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
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Photo: Margaret Bourke-White/Time & Life
A famous image of African-American flood victims lined up to get food and clothing from a Red Cross relief station.
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Photo: Margaret Bourke-White/Time & Life
A famous image of African-American flood victims lined up to get food and clothing from a Red Cross relief station.
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Photo: Alexander Gardner/ Library of Congress
President Abraham Lincoln in a photo taken Feb. 5, 1865.
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Photo: Alexander Gardner/ Library of Congress
President Abraham Lincoln in a photo taken Feb. 5, 1865.